Take Your Pic(k)-Nic with Newstead Brass

Picnics are welcome as award winning Newstead Brass continue their Summer concert season playing for Picnics in the Parks of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

The ‘Friends of Nottingham University’ are hosting a public picnic in the Millennium Garden at the university this Sunday, July 4th from noon until 3.00 pm. Music by Newstead Brass is just part of the entertainment for all the family which also includes Rocket Making, Face Painting, Pond Dipping and the Bakersfield Birds of Prey as well as the wonderful gardens. Admission is free and cover has been arranged should the weather be inclement. Visit the Friends Website for more details.

Plans are also being finalised for the ‘Picnic in Crossley Park’ at Ripley on Saturday July 17th. Newstead Brass will be joined by the Swing Band from South East Derbyshire Music Centre for the annual Brass Spectacular, supported by the Midlands Cooperative Society, which forms part of the Ripley Music Festival. The music begins at 7.30 pm and will conclude with a firework display accompanied by live music from the band. Admission is free and the audience should bring chairs and a picnic. Food will also be on sale from a ‘burger’ stall run by the Ripley Lions’ club with proceeds going to charity.

Last Saturday, June 26th, a large audience enjoyed ‘A Musical Extravaganza’ featuring Newstead Brass (led by musical director Duncan Beckley) and Hucknall Operatic Society as part of the International Byron Festival at Hucknall Parish Church and the following day (Sunday 27th), despite other distractions, another large audience enjoyed a free concert at ‘Highfields’ in Codnor when the band were joined by Derbyshire vocal quartet ‘Farenheit’, quarter finalists on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.

Newstead On Track For Summer Concerts

Following a successful ‘double header’ of concerts in Newstead, Newstead Brass travel just a little further afield for two more concerts in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire this coming weekend.

This Saturday, June 26th, Newstead and musical director Duncan Beckley will join with Hucknall Operatic Society for ‘A Musical Extravaganza’ as part of the International Byron Festival at Hucknall Parish Church (where the famous poet is buried). The concert begins at 7.00 pm and admission is just £5 with concessions available.

The event forms part of a double-header for the band who travel to ‘Highfields’ in Codnor on Sunday (27th June) for a concert organised by Codnor Parish Council and free for everyone to enjoy. The event starts at 2.00 pm and light refreshments will be available for a small charge. The audience are advised to bring deck chairs or picnic blankets to sit on.

Last weekend the band gave a pair of concerts in Newstead, with a concert in the idyllic surrounds of Hayes Farm supporting the ‘Friends of Chernobyl’s Children’ and a performance at nearby Woodside Cottage for the ‘National Gardens Scheme’ gaining lots of positive audience comments and raising funds for several worthwhile charities. The band also took the opportunity to launch their new CD project at the events, inviting friends, supporters and local businesses to ‘sponsor a track’ to help meet the costs of recording later in the year. The band will perform at Woodside Cottage again on Sunday July 18th.

Newstead Help Make ‘Masters’ History

Newstead Brass made their debut appearance at the All-England Masters International Brass Band contest on Sunday May 30th 2010. It was a historic year for the contest as, for the first time, it was being held in the recently completed state of the art 'Lighthouse Theatre', part of the Kettering Conference Centre, having been held at the Cambridge Corn Exchange since its inception in 1989.

The change in venue gave the organisers the opportunity to refresh the contest and 22 bands from across Europe accepted the invitation to take part in this ground-breaking contest with Derby born Percy Fletcher's 'Epic Symphony', originally written for the 1926 National Championships, chosen as the set test-piece. Although Newstead and musical director Duncan Beckley gave a competent account of the piece, it only secured 17th place with top place going to the Cooperative Funeralcare band from Scotland and runners up Tredegar Town from Wales. With the Dutch Brass Band Schoonhoven taking the third podium place it was left to Northamptonshire's Virtuoisi GUS band to lead the English challenge with fourth place. Newstead did have the consolation of finishing ahead of both the Northern and London and Southern Counties champion bands.

Newstead Brass would like to thank Hucknall Central Methodist Church and their friends and supporters who attended an open rehearsal at the church on Saturday May 29th and the Rushden Windmill Band who provided rehearsal facilities (and drinks and biscuits) on Sunday Morning.

'Epic Symphony' has been described as 'Edward Elgar meets Eric Coates' and is likely to be included in the band's programme for their International Byron Festival concert at Hucknall Parish Church (where Byron is buried) on Saturday June 26th. See the tickets page for more details.